Round 1–“12 Dbacks drop ‘86 Redbirds in 4

Submitted by Ron Burnette - Wednesday, December 25, 2013, 8:55 AM

Game 1  86 Cards 5 – 12 Dbacks 1

St. Louis led from start to finish in game 1 as they scored 3 times in the 1st three innings. Bob Forsch was on target as he allowed only 1 earned run and 3 hits in 7 innings while earning MVP honors. Jack Clark led the batsmen going 4 for 4 with 3 RBIs. Unfortunately for the Cards, that would be the last hit for Clark. Ozzie Smith, more on him later in the series, chipped in 3 hits and 3 runs scored.

 

 

Game 2  12 Dbacks 2 – 86 Cards 0

Trevor Cahill and 2 relievers shut out the Cards on 6 hits. Cahill went 7 innings allowing only 4 hits, all of them singles. Justin Upton and Paul Goldschmidt drove in runs in the 1st and 4th innings making Danny Cox the tough luck loser. What was the most amazing aspect of this game was that the ‘Wizard of Oz’ committed 2 errors but none of them led to runs. He would commit another one before the series was over. Series tied at 1.

Game 3  12 Dbacks 2 – 86 Cards 1 (17 Innings)

An instant classic. I can use that phrase since I’m no longer an ESPN Insider. Thank you very much. John Tudor – Cards and Ian Kennedy – Dbacks started this contest but were long gone by the time it finished. St. Louis used 8 pitchers while Arizona used 7. The Dbacks scored in the 6th on a Justin Upton home run to take a 1-0 lead. The Cards tied it in the 8th on a Mike LaValliere base knock. It would stay that way until the bottom of the 17th as pinch hitter Wheeler (don’t know his first name) plated pinch runner Elmore (don’t know his first name either). The official scorer had a plane to catch and did not name an MVP for the game, but Josh Collmenter went 5 innings of one hit ball in relieve to earn that award, at least in my estimation. Both teams left the field totally spent but the Dbacks now lead 2-1.

Game 4  12 Dbacks 10 – 86 Cards 0

The Cards looked like they hadn’t recovered from yesterday’s taught contest and it showed early as the Dbacks scored 4 times in the 1st off of T. J. Mathews. They would knock him out in the 2nd inning. Joe Saunders was on top of his game as he went 7 shut out innings giving up only 3 hits earning MVP honors. Paul Goldschmidt added 5 RBIs. Dbacks pitching held the Cards to a .179 team batting average while posting 1.26 team ERA. Dbacks win 3-1.

Congrats to Mike Hill on a well played series. Both of us agreed that whoever won that game 3 classic would most likely win the series. The Dbacks were lucky enough to do it.    Click here to view series box scores.